Phish returned to the William Randolph Hearst Greek Theatre at the University of California Berkeley on Tuesday to continue the band’s West Coast spring tour with the second of three nights at the historic amphitheater. The band dug into its back catalog to retrieve some seldom-seen selections and delivered multiple 20-plus-minute jams, including a memorable “Bathtub Gin” and an epic extended sequence melding “Don’t Doubt Me”, “Kill Devil Falls”, “Fuego”, and “Light”.
The sun was still high in the sky as Phish emerged on stage for an early start time so as to finish before the venue’s 10 p.m. curfew. “This place is alright,” Trey Anastasio announced with a bit of a Matthew McConaughey drawl before launching into a rare “Olivia’s Pool”. Played seven times back in 1997 and then replaced by “Shafty”—which shares the same “oblivious fool” lyrics—this version of the song has made semi-annual outings in recent years, with single appearances in 2019, 2021, and 2022.
Phish – “Olivia’s Pool” [Pro-Shot] – 4/18/23
The surprising song selections continued with “Seven Below”. The band was patient as the four members began stretching out, slowly shifting through different moods and modalities together. Chris Kuroda’s light rig seemed to wiggle in impossible ways—enough to make even the soberest spectators rub their eyes—as Phish smoothly transitioned from the jam to the end of the song after about ten minutes.
Jon Fishman then introduced the opening rhythm of fan favorite “Maze” much to the audience’s delight. The crowd was fully engaged throughout an extended organ solo from Chairman of the Boards Page McConnell. The “Maze” jam stayed true to the song’s form throughout a long, slow-building arc, never breeching type two territory as Phish masterfully built and released tension together as a unit.
Trey gently waded into another rare selection, “Mountain in the Mist”, for the first since last summer. The audience cheered at the lyric, “As rain falls on my shoulders / Sun rises in the east / A mourning bruise / But I am here at least.” The song was slow and sauntering, with falsetto background vocal harmonies from Mike Gordon and Page. The band members listened closely to each other as they entered the brief instrumental portion of the song. A sweet and delicate number, the crowd recognized the masterpiece with enthusiastic applause before Phish took the energy up a notch with a 23-minute “Bathtub Gin”.
Fluctuating between sweet and savory—I mean funky—the “Gin” jam had some juice. Fans cheered as the lights began to spin—a new feature introduced in Seattle—and darkness finally descended on the collegiate amphitheater. Phish settled into a nice major-key groove that crescendoed to a climax before returning to the end of “Bathtub Gin” with relative smoothness.
Less smooth was the entrance into “555”, which saw a disagreement amongst the rhythm section as to the placement of the one. After getting on the same page, the band extended the Mike Gordon original with a dark and groovy jam section. A ten-minute “Possum” brought the first set to a close, accentuated by intense strobe action from CK5.
The sun had finally gone down by the time Phish returned for set two donning the band’s musical costume/alter-ego Sci-Fi Soldier from Halloween 2021 during an opening “Don’t Doubt Me” that saw rhythmic interplay between Trey and Page. Throughout the 12-minute excursion, the band explored complimentary textures and atmospheric sounds, including an effect Mike created using some curious kind of magnetized bar and microphone instrument he ran offstage to retrieve—Phish never ceases to surprise.
Phish – “Don’t Doubt Me” [Pro-Shot] – 4/18/23
Trey seemed to tease the opening lick of “Kill Devil Falls” around the 12-minute mark, and sure enough, he piloted the band into the tune with a big grin on his face. The song would extend to 14 minutes with a mostly mellow jam, kicking off a string of jammed-out but unfinished songs that also featured “Fuego” (21 minutes with a “Bathtub Gin” tease from Page and improvised vocal runs from Mike) and “Light” (12 minutes). It was the expansive atmospheric improvisation bridging the songs that pushed the band into some of its most exciting and experimental territory of the evening before gradually building back up to a funky flowing rock jam, and that was all before “Light”.
“Lonely Trip” offered a moment of sentimental reflection courtesy of the songwriting dream team of Scott Herman, Tom Marshall, and Ernest Anastasio III. “The Howling”, another Sci-Fi Soldier track that got seriously funky in a short six minutes, came next ahead of a familiar combination repeated from last summer’s show at Xfinity Center in Hartford, CT. Dubbed “Farmlinezero” by one Reddit user, the sequence consisted of “Farmhouse” into “Backwards Down the Numberline” and a “Character Zero” encore.
Another strong performance from Phish highlighted by interesting song selection and cohesive group improvisation. The band returns to cap off the Berkeley run with one more show before heading to Hollywood Bowl for a two-night tour closer. Watch the remaining dates on the West Coast run live or on-demand, in HD or 4K, and get 48 hours of unlimited playback via LivePhish. Head to the band’s website for tickets and a full list of upcoming shows.
Setlist [via phish.net]: Phish | William Randolph Hearst Greek Theatre | Berkeley, CA | 4/18/23
Set One: Olivia’s Pool > Seven Below > Maze, Mountains in the Mist, Bathtub Gin > 555, Possum
Set Two: Don’t Doubt Me > Kill Devil Falls [1] > Fuego [1] > Light [1] > Lonely Trip, The Howling > Farmhouse > Backwards Down the Number Line
Encore: Character Zero
[1] Unfinished
Kill Devil Falls, Fuego, and Light were unfinished.
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